Disclaimer: We own naught but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.
Authors Note: Enjoy.
Chapter One: Fear
~*~
'Don't count the chickens before the eggs are hatched' - My mother.
~*~
Hermione woke up again in a cold, damp dungeon. The room wasn't big, hardly enough to move about in. Right opposite the door there was a pile of dirty straws, and that's where she had been placed. In a corner there was an old bucket that didn't exactly smell nice, and she didn't investigate further. The door was made out of thick, strong wood and enforced with steel. A small window at the top allowed her to look out into a dimly lit corridor. On both sides there were doors to other cells. Now and then a group of black-robed people with white masks - Death Eaters, she supposed - would pass, talking about something or other.
She shuddered. It was cold in the cell, and even colder in her summer clothes. The kidnappers had of course taken her wand, and there was little she could do to warm herself.
Rubbing her arms she started to walk around to keep the blood circulating.
The moans and incoherent jabber of the prisoners around her almost made her wish that the Death Eaters would come and finish her off before she went mad. Now and then a terrified scream would cut through the quiet chatter and echo off the walls for five minutes. God, how she wished she was back home with her mother and father. The thoughts of her parents nearly made her cry. She would never see them again. She sniffed and tried her hardest to keep the tears at bay.
A sudden commotion further down the corridor made her go to the door and look through the little window. Two Death Eaters walked past her cell with a small boy between them. The blonde boy was fighting and screaming for help. Hermione recognised him. It was Colin Creevy, a boy in the same House as her but a year younger. A bend in the corridor hid them from her view, but she could still see the three shadows on the wall. Soon a fourth shadow joined them, it was taller than most and carried itself proudly. The shadow pointed a wand at Colin's small one. A dark, cold laugh followed a whispered word and a black flash of light.
Once again there were only three shadows on the wall, but all three belonged to grown-ups.
Hermione didn't doubt what had happened to her fellow student. He had been Drained and soon it would be her turn.
~*~
Dumbledore couldn't help but smile at the small boy standing in his office. The Headmaster looked up at Remus Lupin, and nodded to the werewolf. The man nodded back, smiled encouragingly at the young boy and left the office. Albus turned his attention back to the boy. Severus Snape, the sole survivor and heir to one of the oldest Light families, was standing in the middle of the room looking curiously at everything. He was thin but - not dangerously so. He was slightly taller than most twelve-year-olds with black, shoulder long hair and coal black eyes. He was dressed in black robes made out of fancy black silk, with a green cape over that again.
Fawkes flew over to the boy and settled on the outstretched arm. The old mages mind jumped back more than a decade when Severus' father had been standing in the same spot for the first time, petting the same bird.
"Now, my boy," Albus began, and the youngster turned his attention to him. "First of all I must welcome you to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The young Snape nodded politely. "I hope that you will have a nice time here for the remaining six years of your magical education."
For the first time since escaping the Dark Lords fortress, Severus spoke. "My brother has already taught me most things." He told the Headmaster. "I am somewhere along fifth year level, even further in Potions."
"Well then, your brother did a wise choice in teaching you so early." Albus smiled. "Though to make sure we know exactly what your you should be in, I hope you won't mind taking a small test?"
Severus shook his head. Fawkes settled back on his perch just as Severus placed himself a bit uncertainly in the chair that stood in front of the Headmasters desk. When he was tested back at the fortress, it had always involved being hexed into oblivion. If it hadn't been for Damien he wouldn't have survived the first couple of years. The chair was soft and fluffy he noticed, a stark contrast to the hard, wooden chairs he was used to.
Albus couldn't help but chuckle as he turned around from searching for a test that could fit Severus, and found said young man asleep in one of his chairs. Well, at least it was good to know that the boy had managed to keep some of his childish innocence even with the war raging around his ears.
~*~
Draco yawned as he stepped into the kitchen. As it was still early the other house occupants were still sleeping, but several 'good mornings' and 'hellos' came his way from pictures and paintings as he made his way to the table.
It had shocked everyone nearly senseless when Draco Malfoy had ended up in Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin at the Sorting six years ago. No one really had had any idea of what to do or how to act around the Malfoy heir - until the next morning that was, when a dark brown Horned Owl had arrived with a Howler and headed straight for the blonde. Lucius Malfoy's voice had echoed around the Great Hall, letting everyone and everything that wasn't deaf hear that Draco was hereby disowned and no longer a Malfoy.
There had been a shocked silence after that, even the Slytherins couldn't believe their ears. In their mind it was better to get into Ravenclaw, than, say, Gryffindor. At least it mean that you had some brains and wouldn't run recklessly into everything that came your way.
The scraping of a chair from the other side of the room had drawn everyone's attention from the shocked ex-Malfoy, and to a Gryffindor first year: Know-It-All Hermione Granger. The bushy haired girl had walked from her table and to the Ravenclaw one, and stopped right beside Draco who had been sitting at the far end. Nothing was said between the two of them; Hermione had just offered him her hand, and Draco had taken it. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, but he had never regretted it.
Since that day, the two of them had been best friends. Where one was, you could be sure that the other wasn't far off. They were like brother and sister. Draco would spend Christmas, Easter and a bigger part of the Summer Holidays at Hermione's; and those times he wasn't there, he lived with either Remus Lupin or Sirius Black.
Therefore it was a great shock to him when he read the Headline of the Daily Prophet.
'Attack at Diagon Alley! Three Hogwarts students gone!'
Time froze. He couldn't believe it. Draco blinked a few times trying to shake himself out of his reverie. The attack didn't shock him as much as one might think, he was used to it. Every day, on the front page of the paper, there would be printed a story about another Death Eater attack or some other tragedy. No, the thing that had him frozen to the spot was that Hermione was supposed to visit Diagon Alley yesterday to buy her new school supplies.
Suddenly he snapped out of it, and started to run up the stairs. "SIRIUS! WAKE UP!"
The paper laid forgotten on the table.
~*~
Hermione was sitting on the pile of straws. She had no idea how much time had passed since she had been captured, nor how much had since Colin had been Drained. She just couldn't bring herself to care anymore; trying to count the minutes as they passed had only made it worse, and she had stopped.
She was saying a silent farewell to Draco, when a group of Death Eaters stopped in front of her cell. They were laughing and generally acting as if they were drunk - something they probably were as well. The sound of a key being put in the lock and turned came, the door opened and the five Death Eaters stepped in.
Hermione got to her feet, ready to not give herself over until the last breath had left her body. She'd be damned if she went willingly with them to get Drained!
But to her surprise one of the Death Eaters closed the door after them and locked it; then they turned to her, lustful looks going up and down her body.
'Merlin, no!' she thought as they advanced. 'This can't be happening!' yet it was.
Hermione punched the first Death Eater who tried to touch her, and kicked the second. The third she bit and the fourth she scratched. The fifth suddenly grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the wall. His breath smelled horribly of cheap beer.
"Now why don't you be a good girl and we'll all be happy?" he ran a hand over her cheek. "You are beautiful for a mudblood." He moved to kiss her, but Hermione spit him in the face. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor a handprint-formed bruise forming on her cheek. "We've caught us a little wildcat, boys!" he said to the other four. "This will be a lot of fun!"
All five of them laughed, but stopped in their tracks when a darker laugh joined them. They turned and stared at something Hermione couldn't see as they were in the way, blocking whoever it was.
"What a wonderful speech, Nott." The voice was just as dark as the laugh. "How long did it take you to formulate it?"
None of the five boys replied, and one of them - Nott, she supposed - began to shake in his boots. A dark chuckle echoed off the walls. It washed over her like black silk, wrapped her in its depths.
"I've got a riddle for you," the voice continued. "Five guards aren't on their posts when their superior comes by. Now, what should he do with them?"
There was a silence, then all five began to talk at once.
"It was Crabbe's fault!"
"We were just looking for some fun!"
"...and he said that..."
"It wasn't my fault, they dragged me along. I was almost put in chains!"
"I swear on my oath as a-"
"Quiet!" they shut up. The voice had gone from dark velvet to ice cold within seconds. "You know very well what happens to disobedient recruits. This will reach Lord Voldemort's ears, now get back to your posts!"
To Hermione it seemed like the five boys had Apparated. She got off the floor and dusted herself off. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that she realised that she wasn't alone. She looked up from inspecting the damage done to her pants, and looked straight into emerald green, unnaturally bright eyes.
-----------------------
That's all folks. The chapter was corrected by Rachel A. Prongs, but written solely by The Red Dragons Order.
Authors Note: Enjoy.
Chapter One: Fear
~*~
'Don't count the chickens before the eggs are hatched' - My mother.
~*~
Hermione woke up again in a cold, damp dungeon. The room wasn't big, hardly enough to move about in. Right opposite the door there was a pile of dirty straws, and that's where she had been placed. In a corner there was an old bucket that didn't exactly smell nice, and she didn't investigate further. The door was made out of thick, strong wood and enforced with steel. A small window at the top allowed her to look out into a dimly lit corridor. On both sides there were doors to other cells. Now and then a group of black-robed people with white masks - Death Eaters, she supposed - would pass, talking about something or other.
She shuddered. It was cold in the cell, and even colder in her summer clothes. The kidnappers had of course taken her wand, and there was little she could do to warm herself.
Rubbing her arms she started to walk around to keep the blood circulating.
The moans and incoherent jabber of the prisoners around her almost made her wish that the Death Eaters would come and finish her off before she went mad. Now and then a terrified scream would cut through the quiet chatter and echo off the walls for five minutes. God, how she wished she was back home with her mother and father. The thoughts of her parents nearly made her cry. She would never see them again. She sniffed and tried her hardest to keep the tears at bay.
A sudden commotion further down the corridor made her go to the door and look through the little window. Two Death Eaters walked past her cell with a small boy between them. The blonde boy was fighting and screaming for help. Hermione recognised him. It was Colin Creevy, a boy in the same House as her but a year younger. A bend in the corridor hid them from her view, but she could still see the three shadows on the wall. Soon a fourth shadow joined them, it was taller than most and carried itself proudly. The shadow pointed a wand at Colin's small one. A dark, cold laugh followed a whispered word and a black flash of light.
Once again there were only three shadows on the wall, but all three belonged to grown-ups.
Hermione didn't doubt what had happened to her fellow student. He had been Drained and soon it would be her turn.
~*~
Dumbledore couldn't help but smile at the small boy standing in his office. The Headmaster looked up at Remus Lupin, and nodded to the werewolf. The man nodded back, smiled encouragingly at the young boy and left the office. Albus turned his attention back to the boy. Severus Snape, the sole survivor and heir to one of the oldest Light families, was standing in the middle of the room looking curiously at everything. He was thin but - not dangerously so. He was slightly taller than most twelve-year-olds with black, shoulder long hair and coal black eyes. He was dressed in black robes made out of fancy black silk, with a green cape over that again.
Fawkes flew over to the boy and settled on the outstretched arm. The old mages mind jumped back more than a decade when Severus' father had been standing in the same spot for the first time, petting the same bird.
"Now, my boy," Albus began, and the youngster turned his attention to him. "First of all I must welcome you to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The young Snape nodded politely. "I hope that you will have a nice time here for the remaining six years of your magical education."
For the first time since escaping the Dark Lords fortress, Severus spoke. "My brother has already taught me most things." He told the Headmaster. "I am somewhere along fifth year level, even further in Potions."
"Well then, your brother did a wise choice in teaching you so early." Albus smiled. "Though to make sure we know exactly what your you should be in, I hope you won't mind taking a small test?"
Severus shook his head. Fawkes settled back on his perch just as Severus placed himself a bit uncertainly in the chair that stood in front of the Headmasters desk. When he was tested back at the fortress, it had always involved being hexed into oblivion. If it hadn't been for Damien he wouldn't have survived the first couple of years. The chair was soft and fluffy he noticed, a stark contrast to the hard, wooden chairs he was used to.
Albus couldn't help but chuckle as he turned around from searching for a test that could fit Severus, and found said young man asleep in one of his chairs. Well, at least it was good to know that the boy had managed to keep some of his childish innocence even with the war raging around his ears.
~*~
Draco yawned as he stepped into the kitchen. As it was still early the other house occupants were still sleeping, but several 'good mornings' and 'hellos' came his way from pictures and paintings as he made his way to the table.
It had shocked everyone nearly senseless when Draco Malfoy had ended up in Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin at the Sorting six years ago. No one really had had any idea of what to do or how to act around the Malfoy heir - until the next morning that was, when a dark brown Horned Owl had arrived with a Howler and headed straight for the blonde. Lucius Malfoy's voice had echoed around the Great Hall, letting everyone and everything that wasn't deaf hear that Draco was hereby disowned and no longer a Malfoy.
There had been a shocked silence after that, even the Slytherins couldn't believe their ears. In their mind it was better to get into Ravenclaw, than, say, Gryffindor. At least it mean that you had some brains and wouldn't run recklessly into everything that came your way.
The scraping of a chair from the other side of the room had drawn everyone's attention from the shocked ex-Malfoy, and to a Gryffindor first year: Know-It-All Hermione Granger. The bushy haired girl had walked from her table and to the Ravenclaw one, and stopped right beside Draco who had been sitting at the far end. Nothing was said between the two of them; Hermione had just offered him her hand, and Draco had taken it. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, but he had never regretted it.
Since that day, the two of them had been best friends. Where one was, you could be sure that the other wasn't far off. They were like brother and sister. Draco would spend Christmas, Easter and a bigger part of the Summer Holidays at Hermione's; and those times he wasn't there, he lived with either Remus Lupin or Sirius Black.
Therefore it was a great shock to him when he read the Headline of the Daily Prophet.
'Attack at Diagon Alley! Three Hogwarts students gone!'
Time froze. He couldn't believe it. Draco blinked a few times trying to shake himself out of his reverie. The attack didn't shock him as much as one might think, he was used to it. Every day, on the front page of the paper, there would be printed a story about another Death Eater attack or some other tragedy. No, the thing that had him frozen to the spot was that Hermione was supposed to visit Diagon Alley yesterday to buy her new school supplies.
Suddenly he snapped out of it, and started to run up the stairs. "SIRIUS! WAKE UP!"
The paper laid forgotten on the table.
~*~
Hermione was sitting on the pile of straws. She had no idea how much time had passed since she had been captured, nor how much had since Colin had been Drained. She just couldn't bring herself to care anymore; trying to count the minutes as they passed had only made it worse, and she had stopped.
She was saying a silent farewell to Draco, when a group of Death Eaters stopped in front of her cell. They were laughing and generally acting as if they were drunk - something they probably were as well. The sound of a key being put in the lock and turned came, the door opened and the five Death Eaters stepped in.
Hermione got to her feet, ready to not give herself over until the last breath had left her body. She'd be damned if she went willingly with them to get Drained!
But to her surprise one of the Death Eaters closed the door after them and locked it; then they turned to her, lustful looks going up and down her body.
'Merlin, no!' she thought as they advanced. 'This can't be happening!' yet it was.
Hermione punched the first Death Eater who tried to touch her, and kicked the second. The third she bit and the fourth she scratched. The fifth suddenly grabbed her wrists and pinned her against the wall. His breath smelled horribly of cheap beer.
"Now why don't you be a good girl and we'll all be happy?" he ran a hand over her cheek. "You are beautiful for a mudblood." He moved to kiss her, but Hermione spit him in the face. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor a handprint-formed bruise forming on her cheek. "We've caught us a little wildcat, boys!" he said to the other four. "This will be a lot of fun!"
All five of them laughed, but stopped in their tracks when a darker laugh joined them. They turned and stared at something Hermione couldn't see as they were in the way, blocking whoever it was.
"What a wonderful speech, Nott." The voice was just as dark as the laugh. "How long did it take you to formulate it?"
None of the five boys replied, and one of them - Nott, she supposed - began to shake in his boots. A dark chuckle echoed off the walls. It washed over her like black silk, wrapped her in its depths.
"I've got a riddle for you," the voice continued. "Five guards aren't on their posts when their superior comes by. Now, what should he do with them?"
There was a silence, then all five began to talk at once.
"It was Crabbe's fault!"
"We were just looking for some fun!"
"...and he said that..."
"It wasn't my fault, they dragged me along. I was almost put in chains!"
"I swear on my oath as a-"
"Quiet!" they shut up. The voice had gone from dark velvet to ice cold within seconds. "You know very well what happens to disobedient recruits. This will reach Lord Voldemort's ears, now get back to your posts!"
To Hermione it seemed like the five boys had Apparated. She got off the floor and dusted herself off. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that she realised that she wasn't alone. She looked up from inspecting the damage done to her pants, and looked straight into emerald green, unnaturally bright eyes.
-----------------------
That's all folks. The chapter was corrected by Rachel A. Prongs, but written solely by The Red Dragons Order.